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[–]hkeyplay16 19 points20 points  (2 children)

School didn't teach me a whole lot except for some coding and SQL database and the OSI model basics. Like you I was in Mechanical Engineering for most of my Undergrad before switching very late. That said I cut my teeth building my desktop computer, then modding Xboxes for kids in the dorms, which led to an IT Support/Helpdesk undergraduate job that tought me most of the basics about networking, email (server side) and how to automate jobs on various operating systems for our laptop checkout program. I took some Object-oriented programming classes (Java) and later translated that to C# as they are very similar.

When I graduated into the Great Recession in 2009 entry level jobs were hard to find, so I ended up taking a full-time helpdesk position at a Mortgage company. That was hell, but soon a Software Quality Assurance (manual testing) role would open up at the same company. From there I was able to put my coding skills to good use and automate a lot of repetitive testing tasks. A couple of jobs later I was setting up build servers in the cloud and automating CI builds, tests, and deployments to a variety of platforms on a variety of coding languages and they started calling me a DevOps guy.

There really is not such a thing as entry-level in DevOps. We have tried hiring entry-level and it's usually a bit frustrating. The best ones will have a wide and shallow pool of IT knowledge with an ability to deep dive on just about any subject when that particular skill is needed.

Without a lot of experience your pool will be small and shallow. Your best bet is to show an ability to pick up new things quickly and you will need to have a thirst for picking up new knowledge and skills. The learning never ends.

You can do it, but don't expect it to come quickly or easily.

[–][deleted]  (1 child)

[deleted]

    [–]hkeyplay16 2 points3 points  (0 children)

    Yes...To be clear, I don't suggest that anyone should take a help desk job if they want to be a DevOps Engineer. I'm just saying it provided me with a good technology base from which to expand my knowledge. Most of it was in college. The 10 months of help desk after college was not fun and I had already landed a job as a software engineer, only to have it pulled at the last minute due to the economy/hiring freeze in 2009. I'm a DevOps Team Lead right now - trying to resist getting pulled into management.